The Prius: a screaming teen race car or a hybrid for the granola-crunching crowd?

It was the car, a Prius, not the notorious felon, that caught the whitewash and got everyone excited. Recently, Al Gore III, son of former Vice President Al Gore, was arrested for possession of marijuana and speeding over 100 mph on the San Diego Freeway in his Toyota Prius.

Ho hum another celebrity in trouble with the law. What’s new? A hybrid stuck at 100+ mph, that is.

Speed ​​tests have shown that the new Prius can reach speeds of up to 103 mph. When compared to other Toyotas, like a Camry, which can hit 130 mph, it’s not too fast. Even the Hybrid Camry can hit 117 mph.

On the other hand, the Prius isn’t the slowest car on the road, either. Car and Driver magazine compiled statistics showing the AM General Hummer H1 has a top speed of just 88 mph.

The equalizer, however, is the cruise control most American cars are required to have for liability reasons. The governor ensures that a car will not go too fast for its tires. Although Pruis tops out at 103 mph, the governor limits both the Prius and Corolla to 112 mph.

There are several factors that limit the hybrid Prius to 103 mph.

First, Toyota made a conscious decision to limit the Prius’ speed to 103 mph. Toyota spokesman Mike Michels said the hybrid Prius is capable of going even faster. But the car is speed-limited to 103 mph to avoid draining its battery.

He claimed that “it can go 103 mph indefinitely”. Until the gas runs out, that is.

Second, Toyota created the Prius to save fuel, which makes it have less horsepower than a conventional car. A car with less horsepower will not use as much gas, but it will also have less speed.

Hybrids don’t necessarily have to have less horsepower. A hybrid’s gasoline engine and electric motor can be combined to create as much horsepower as a conventional vehicle. For example, the conventional four-cylinder Toyota Camry has 158 horsepower. While the four-cylinder Hybrid Camry has 187 horsepower. Therefore, not all hybrids are designed to save fuel.

But how can the Hybrid Prius hit 103 mph?

Several factors come into play. First, automotive technology has raised the speed limit for all vehicles in general. Russ Rader, a spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said if he tried to go 100 mph in his 1983 Oldsmobile Delta 88, “the bolts would probably come loose.”

Second, the globalized car market has led to higher expectations from drivers that the Prius must meet. Some European countries have no speed limit, while the rest have higher speed limits than the US.

Third, for Prius advocates, “efficiency is just another way to spell performance.” In other words, Toyota optimized the hybrid Prius for high-speed performance. They achieved this by aerodynamically designing the car to have low drag, light weight, and tires with low rolling resistance, which reduces friction between the rubber and the road.

Michels claims the car has everything a hot rodder wants “from aerodynamic drag to rolling resistance, cooling systems and the drivetrain itself.”

Although it doesn’t help Gore, his arrest has shown that the Prius is a high-speed car to be reckoned with. A post on Priuschat.com wrote: “At least the beaters can’t tell the car is small or slow.”